Wales must recycle more, says Environment Minister Jane Davidson

HOW we treat the waste we all produce reflects how we treat where we live and care for the planet.

HOW we treat the waste we all produce reflects how we treat where we live and care for the planet.

Since becoming Environment Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government, I have repeatedly stated that we can no longer simply bury waste in the land to rot.

When I meet sceptics of the recycling agenda, I always ask them: “Will we, as a society, be able to look our grandchildren in the eye and say we did all we could to protect where we live?”

Our attitude to recycling has come a long way and we have seen a significant increase in recycling.

In 1996-97, we recycled just 4% of our municipal waste. This now stands at 36% for the first three quarters of 2008-09. Today, over 92% of Welsh households have a kerbside recycling service provided by their councils.

We are also sending less to landfill.

The EU has set ambitious targets to reduce landfill and I am pleased to say Wales is ahead of these targets.

Those who fail to achieve these targets can face fines of up to half a million pounds per day. So Burying material in the earth to rot is not affordable, financially or environmentally.

So recycling has been a major success story in respect of people doing their bit for the environment. But we still produce too much waste, and this is the biggest challenge to overcome.

That is why today I am launching the public consultation for our Waste Strategy 2009-2050 “Towards Zero Waste”.

This sets out our ambitious new plans for how the Welsh Assembly Government proposes to tackle waste over the next four decades. Our target is for at least 70% of all waste from Welsh households, the commercial sector and construction to be recycled by 2025.

I believe this is the most ambitious recycling plan among any of the administrations of the UK.

Other targets include a 90% target for recycling, recovery and reuse of non-hazardous waste from construction. We also want to see Wales become a “zero waste” nation by 2050 so that products and services are designed so that they reduce or reuse waste as far as possible.

Another goal is zero landfill by 2025.

Waste makes up a significant part of our ecological footprint and, to meet our aspirations to get Wales living within its resources, we must focus on eliminating waste. Waste that we can’t reduce must be recycled to achieve the best reduction on ecological and carbon footprints.

We are aiming to bring down Wales’ ecological footprint closer to the average availability of resources – 1.8 global hectares per person.

Wales’ ecological footprint is currently 5.16 global hectares per person. This tells us that within our small nation we are using 2.7 planets worth of resources to sustain our lifestyles.

Unchecked, this could rise by 20% by 2020, the equivalent of 3.3 planets worth of resources. We cannot go on like this.

However, it is not only our environment that will benefit from taking action, but also our economy. The European eco-industry employs 3.4 million people. This is more than car manufacturing (2.7 million), chemical (1.3 million), basic metal (1.4 million), or textile (1.3 million) industries. Its annual turnover is more than 227bn, 2.2% of European GDP.

Wales must not miss out on this trend. There are tremendous opportunities to save money and create high quality industry in Wales by using the valuable material resources contained in waste. I want to encourage a more joined-up recycling infrastructure across Wales as recycling services expand. We must capitalise on the creation of new green jobs and business opportunities.

To help achieve this, we propose to make available more advice for businesses so that they can go green and reduce their costs.

This plan will work closely with our Green Jobs Strategy that aims to increase the number of new jobs created in Wales that are “green”.

The Welsh Assembly Government will also provide specialist support in waste and resource management for business.

As a government we realise we can’t achieve this vision without taking people with us. We must convince them that their actions and decisions are making a difference. Separating your waste at home is not a worthless task but one that has a real and positive impact on our world.

Research shows that recycling is often the thing people most recognise as being their main contribution towards improving the environment. We need to create a truly comprehensive recycling society, where everyone can recycle wherever they are – at home, while out relaxing or at work. But this isn’t just about recycling. It is about getting people to rethink why they are producing so much waste in the first place.

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